The Enclave: Pair of rentals rise near East Harlem's transitioning waterfront

By CityRealty Staff | From East Harlem Thursday, April 21, 2022

Rendering of The Enclave via ND Architecture

In the wake of a 2017 rezoning, the East 125th Street Development Project was conceived to transform a onetime East Harlem MTA bus depot and nearby properties into a mixed-use master plan with new retail, office, hospitality, and housing. Sprawling from East 124th Street to 127th Street between Second and Third avenues, completed ventures include a building for the New York Proton Center and the newly-launched rental One East Harlem. Directly adjacent to one of the master plan's is a rising two-building rental development dubbed The Enclave. In recent weeks, the wing facing East 124th Street has topped out at 12 stories high, and the building facing East 125th Street is now four stories up.

The Enclave will comprise a pair of two 12-story buildings connected by a rear yard and a one-story building. ND Architecture is listed on permits as the designer of record, and the pattern of windows depicted in renderings is now evident on the 124th Street elevation of the building.

The Enclave is being developed by a partnership between The Hakimian Organization, Certes Partners, and Red Pine Capital Partners. The Hakimian Organization acquired the site for $10 million in October 2018, and demolition permits for the building previously on the site were filed a short time later. When the project was first announced, Patch observed that this was The Hakimian Organization’s first foray above 96th Street.

When The Enclave secured $59.4 million in development financing, Multihousing News noted that it benefiting from a tax abatement under the Affordable Housing New York program. As such, a percentage of the 113 units are expected to be affordable, but details are not yet available on these. Market-rate rents are not yet available either, but CityRealty data puts East Harlem’s median rent at $2,842/month.

The Enclave as seen from East 124th Street, April 2022 (CityRealty)

The topped out East 124th Street wing

The Enclave's 125th Street building is now four stories up April 2022 (CityRealty)

Permits call for 2,866 square feet of grade-level commercial space and no more than six apartments per floor starting on the second floor. Amenities are set to include a courtyard, a mail/package room, an exercise room with locker rooms, a basement lounge, and eleventh-floor lounge with accessory terrace, attended parking, and bike storage.

If/when the Second Avenue subway is extended to 125th Street, The Enclave is a stone's throw from the expected stop. But as it currently stands, it is one block away from the 4/5/6 trains at 125th Street. It is also close to Harlem River Park, Marcus Garvey Park, local schools, and retailers like Whole Foods and TJ Maxx.

Additionally, this year construction will begin on a new seven-acre waterfront park along the Harlem River. According to Patch, the new seven-acre park will be finished in 2025 and bring pedestrian and bicycle pathways, public art, a playground, and picnic and barbecue areas to a stretch of riverfront between125th and 132nd Streets. The architects at the helm are Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners. Once complete, the new park will make new pedestrian and bicycle connections to the Manhattan Greenway from East Harlem, the South Bronx, and Randall’s Island. By way of a connection to the East River esplanade, the new park brings the city closer to the goal of creating a continuous, 32-mile loop around Manhattan island.